Spokane Falls Community College
An idea must be brought to realization for the public. Whether people are aware or not, they rely on fashion merchandisers to do the job. There are many activities and skills required to bring a product to the consumer, whether the merchandise is a piece of clothing, a cosmetic, a roll of fabric or an article of home furnishing. A special kind of service known as fashion merchandising comes from these activities. This is the fashion industry in all its glory!
Fashion merchandising, that is designed to prepare men and women for a career in the wholesale and retail merchandising field, is a six-quarter program offered by SFCC. Students receive a thorough understanding of buying, promotion and merchandising strategies through professional courses that stress fashion concepts, as they apply to apparel and non-apparel merchandise. Students who are successful in completing this program will earn an associate in applied science degree (A.A.S.).
Through this program students will be prepared with courses covering retail concepts, fashion trends, fashion fabrics, promotion and advertising, merchandise buying, personal selling and professional development in the retail field. Students also focus on such areas as speech, business math, marketing, and business communications, and they may elect to participate in such fields as accounting, money management, business law, human relations, management, computer skills, clothing selection, garment construction, color, and design.
Before graduating students must earn at least three credits in work-related experience, along with their class instruction. By better preparing them for the realities of the fashion world, this experience gives then a chance to combine classroom knowledge with on-the-job training. This training has afforded many students the opportunity to progress into fulltime or managerial positions. By participating in annual fashion merchandising tours to regional market centers such as Seattle, and national market centers such as New York City, students frequently choose to gain additional experience. We also make available an international study tour.
